Chinese Tech Giants Expand OpenClaw Access Amid "Lobster Fever
- tech360.tv
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Chinese technology firms, including Tencent Holdings, Alibaba Group Holding, and ByteDance, are offering easy or inexpensive access to OpenClaw, the popular open-source artificial intelligence agent software. This comes amid a "lobster fever" in the country.
Shares of Hong Kong-listed artificial intelligence companies MiniMax and Zhipu AI surged 22% and 13%, respectively, after these firms took steps to incorporate OpenClaw tools.
Tencent officially launched QClaw, an artificial intelligence assistant built on OpenClaw that can connect to the company’s super app WeChat. Users can remotely control their laptop by sending commands via WeChat on their phone after downloading and installing QClaw. Installation takes about three minutes.
MiniMax integrated its voice and music generators with the OpenClaw ecosystem. Zhipu released AutoClaw, which can deploy a local version of OpenClaw within one minute.
Alibaba released a comprehensive guide for integrating OpenClaw with DingTalk, its enterprise communication platform. DingTalk is offering unlimited application programming interface calls, or interactions, with OpenClaw until March 31.
Alibaba Cloud, the company’s cloud unit, has launched tutorials and resources for developers. These resources allow deployment of OpenClaw for as low as US$1.4.
TikTok owner ByteDance’s cloud unit Volcano Engine unveiled ArkClaw, an "out-of-the-box" version of OpenClaw. ArkClaw runs entirely in the cloud, eliminating the need for complex local environment configuration.
This followed ByteDance’s launch of an OpenClaw plug-in office tool, Feishu. Users can employ Feishu to read and send messages, manage calendars, and handle other tasks directly within the platform.
Some firms offered to help deploy the native OpenClaw software. JD.com launched a dedicated page where users can pay 399 yuan for remote help from Lenovo’s information technology maintenance team, Baiying.
Meituan announced a similar partnership with Lenovo. These moves aim to address technical pain points as interest in OpenClaw expands beyond tech enthusiasts to ordinary Chinese people.
The software was formerly known as Clawdbot and Moltbot. Austrian programmer Peter Steinberger developed the software. OpenClaw was launched last year and acquired by OpenAI in February, sparking global hype.
OpenClaw, billed as the artificial intelligence that "actually does things," was designed to carry out tasks on users’ computer systems on their behalf. This differs from conventional chatbots that primarily interact with users.
However, adopting the software typically requires complex environment set-up and configuration. Tencent was among the first Chinese tech firms to offer help with this.
Tencent’s cloud-computing unit invited people to its Shenzhen headquarters to install OpenClaw for free, drawing nearly 1,000 attendees. Tencent has also launched WorkBuddy, its own OpenClaw alternative.
WorkBuddy is fully compatible with OpenClaw skills but is more user-friendly, requiring only download and installation. Other Chinese companies are developing their own versions of OpenClaw.
Xiaomi invited users to test its "miclaw," an artificial intelligence interaction product built on its own artificial intelligence model. "Miclaw" aims to turn a smartphone into an artificial intelligence tool capable of understanding user intent, calling applications, and completing commands autonomously.
Local governments in Jiangsu province’s Changshu and Wuxi cities, along with a district in Shenzhen, have drafted supportive policies for OpenClaw. These policies include subsidies and resources.
Chinese tech giants are providing easier and cheaper access to OpenClaw artificial intelligence software.
Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance have each launched new OpenClaw-based tools or services.
Shares of Hong Kong-listed AI companies MiniMax and Zhipu AI surged after integrating OpenClaw tools.
Source: SCMP
